


Deck the Halls

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Short Stories! [68]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Christmas fic, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Husbands, Just Holly Jolly Bullshit, M/M, Sappy, Short & Sweet, Stony - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28028109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: It's just Stony being sappy husbands at Christmas time, no plot to be found!Fa-la-la-la-la! La-la! La-la!
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Short Stories! [68]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/786345
Comments: 20
Kudos: 273





	Deck the Halls

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree." Steve hummed to himself as he measured out the exact amount of paper it would take to wrap Tony's gift. "How lovely are your branches. Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree--" 

_"Captain Rogers_?" JARVIS interrupted the music and sounded almost apologetic. " _You wanted to be alerted when your husband came home_ _?"_

"I did." Steve's grin turned a little goofy as he glanced down at the gold band on his finger. "Is he ready to put all the lights up?" 

" _Sir has asked me to inform you that he is ready to_ _'deck the ever loving expletive deleted out of these halls_ ** **'**** _and wants you to_ _'get that spangled inappropriate reference to your anatomy upstairs right now_ '." 

"I see you're using the new filter software Pepper installed?" Steve carefully applied a modest amount of tape to his meticulously wrapped gift. "What does Tony think of his AI censoring him?" 

" _Sir thinks its an expletive deleted stupid idea and swears that he will not be censored, it's against his God given rights to blab expletive deleted at all hours of the day. Ms. Potts was contacted, Sir lost the argument and now my filter protocols have been expanded to change any reference to Ms. Potts or Colonel Rhodes into a compliment_." 

"Oh my god." Steve chuckled to himself, unable to even fathom how _annoyed_ Tony would be at having so many restrictions. Then again, Tony could override the protocol at any time since JARVIS was his creation, and the fact that Tony had left it alone was hilarious. 

"Tony must really be worried about Santa's list if he's watching his language huh?" Steve asked Dum-E, who only beeped and whirred and handed him over a perfectly plumped bow in coordinating colors. "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Come on, let's go deck these halls." 

********

"Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly." Steve sang on his way out of the elevator. "Tis the Season to be Jolly. Don We Now Our Gay Apparel--" 

"FA LA LA, LA LA LA, LA LA LA!" Tony shouted and Steve turned just in time to catch his husband as Tony sort of jumped but mostly fell off a ladder and right into Steve's arms. "That was great timing, sweetheart. Another minute and I'd be a very festive splat on the living room floor." 

"I'd never let you be a splat." Steve teased through a quick kiss. "Not even a festive one. What were you doing up on the ladder?" 

"Trying to hang that." Tony was already heading towards the bar for a shot of spiked egg nog, but he paused long enough to jerk his thumb at the back wall. "What do you think?" 

"...well..." Steve backed up several steps and folded his arms, tipping his head as he tried to find the interesting part of Tony's little display. "Well my love, it's a very long piece of paper wrapped all the way around the living room. Is this like your thing last year where you wanted to wrap the Tower like a present and Pepper told you absolutely not, but you tried it anyway?" 

"HEY!" Tony jabbed a finger in Steve's direction. "If the giant bow wouldn't have been in a flight path, the city never would have made me take it down." 

"Yeah, alright." Steve conceded, and when Tony grinned in triumph, the big blond's heart squeezed in happiness. _Damn it, he loved Tony so much_ _._ "So what's with the paper, then? I thought you were ready to deck the ever loving _expletive deleted_ out of these halls." 

Tony rolled his eyes over Steve's less than subtle reference to the Filter Protocol, and swept his arm in a wide arc around the room. "I am ready to deck the ever loving expletive deleted out of these halls. So get to it." 

"Get to it." Steve repeated. "What, _me_?" 

"Yeah, you." Tony retrieved a big box from behind the bar and handed it over to Steve, folding his arms and biting at his lip as Steve tore it open. "I um-- You know, I love being married to Captain America, but more than that, I love being married to _Steve Rogers_ and one of the things Steve Rogers loves to do but never gets to do anymore? _Paint_." 

"Oh." Steve's fingers shook a little as he ran them hesitantly over an array of delicately crafted paint brushes, ranging from the thinnest, most finely pointed tip clear through the broader sizes for full scale paintings. There had to be at least two dozen brushes, maybe even a little more, and next in the box was a cleaning and care kit to make sure his brushes stayed in perfect condition. 

Next was an assortment of high quality paints in shades Steve hadn't even known existed, and wrapped separately from it all were three custom crafted colors "The Color of Our Love Red " "Iron Man Gold" and "Steve's Blue Eyes". 

"Tony?" Steve finally asked, and when he looked up, Tony looked like he might burst with excitement. "What is this?" 

"This is an amount of money that will make you scream." Tony said quickly. "So don't even think about asking what it cost. But I didn't really know what to get you for Christmas besides my ass tied with a bow--" 

"TONY!" 

"--and I was informed that a gift like that was not only tacky, but Clint also informed that it's not a _gift_ if I give up this booty for free all the time--" 

"OH MY GOD!" 

"--But but but--" Tony held up his hands and laughed when Steve blushed bright red. "But I thought about how you never get to paint anymore, you don't really have time and even though there's plenty of rooms for you to convert to a studio, you're always too busy saving the world to dabble in watercolor." 

Steve _waited_ , and Tony motioned to the room again. "The only decoration I want at home this year is one you paint, sweetheart. Whatever you want. Any color, any shape, any scene. Spend the rest of this month painting and we'll leave it up till New Years and then I'll get it treated and covered so it lasts, get it professionally rolled and next year we can bring it back out and-- _mmph_!" 

Tony shut up when Steve snatched him up into a long kiss, then laughed quietly and put his arms around his husbands neck to kiss him right back. "Is this an okay present?" 

"I used to paint pictures to hang up for Christmas with my Ma" Steve whispered. "And when it was just me and Bucky in that shit apartment for so long. After I came out of the ice, I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to paint again. Tony, this is amazing. Thank you." 

"I know you laugh when I tell you I'd do anything for you." Tony flattened his palms to Steve's chest, tapping over his heart. "But I'm always serious. Whatever you want. Anything you want. I know this is just paint supplies and a big ass piece of paper but if you want it to be an entire room or your own studio or a gallery, you just let me know. I'll make it happen for you." 

"Mmmm." Steve sighed through another long kiss, and then -- "There is... there is one thing you could do for me before I start decking these halls." 

"Name it, Spangles." 

"Well--" Steve leaned in and whispered into Tony's ear for a moment. "...you know?" 

********

Whatever happened next was fuzzed out on surveillance partly because of JARVIS's new Filter Protocol, partly because of the Honeymoon Protocol Tony had installed eight months previous on their wedding day. 

And now the halls were certainly _decked_ with Steve's festive paintings, the super soldier working endlessly for close to a week to fill in every inch of the paper Tony had mounted to the wall. There were outdoor scenes and shots from their life before the war, traditional holiday pictures and words of favorite carols in elegant curling calligraphy. 

If anyone noticed the chunk of paper missing closest to the mistletoe, the piece that would have been approximately the right height for Tony to stretch out on as Steve painted-- well no one commented at all. 

And Tony just sipped at his egg nog and smiled over at his husband as Steve twirled a paint brush between his fingers and smeared a little _Our Love Red_ on his cheek before carefully and _seriously_ painting a kitten on Rhodey's niece's hand. 

"You guys are gross." Pepper commented over Tony's shoulder. "I know exactly why that piece of paper is missing." 

"Yeah, well thanks to your Filter Protocol, there's no evidence to support your theory." Tony said blandly. "Besides, it just didn't seem fair to restrict how Steve got to play with his new toys. Where's the Christmas spirit in that?" 

"Oh for fu--" 

_"_ _Language, Ms. Potts_." JARVIS interjected and Tony laughed up at the ceiling. 

Then he looked over towards Steve again, who was smiling at Natasha and obviously attempting to convince her to get her face painted and suddenly Tony could barely _breathe_ through a surge of happiness. 

"Merry Christmas to me." he whispered to no one in particular. "I have everything I could ever want."


End file.
